Yorkshire

A great place to start!

A big Yorkshire welcome to our expanding independent guide to the most scenically diverse region of the UK, produced for you right here in Yorkshire.

Scroll down this page to get up to date with what is going on in Yorkshire and some of the newest additions to Yorkshire.guide

Find your way around Yorkshire.guide

If you’re new to Yorkshire see what it has to offer on our Introduction page.

We have now added more than 1,000 places to our A to Y Gazetteer of Yorkshire. We've listed the cities and towns and now many of the villages, with links to pages providing more information or to pinpoint villages on our unique Yorkshire map.

The Home button links you to many other parts of Yorkshire.guide

And look below for our frequently updated page with some of our newest items about Yorkshire issues and events in more detail .......

Christmas market time in Yorkshire

Christmas markets offer a huge range of stalls and entertainment in towns and cities across Yorkshire with some continuing right up to Christmas Eve.

• An award-winning Christmas market in Yorkshire's principal city York started on Thursday November 14 and brings festive cheer in the city every day until Sunday December 22.

In addition to York's regular market there are around 75 alpine-style chalets along Parliament Street and St Sampson's Square offering gifts and festive treats. The vast majority of traders are from Yorkshire. A carousel is situated at King's Square and a variety of other festive fun events are taking place at venues around the city as part of the York Christmas Festival.

York Minster will again be holding its popular Christmas Tree Festival with 70 trees on display in its Nave, Chapter House and Lady Chapel. The festival starts on November 30 and continues until January 5 in the new year.

Sheffield Town Hall Christmas Market time in The Peace Gardens, Sheffield Big Wheel at The Moor, Sheffield Sheffield Christmas Market Barker's Pool, Sheffield Pinstone Street, Sheffield• The annual Christmas Market in Sheffield, South Yorkshire also began in mid-November and continues right up until Tuesday December 24.

Around 60 cabins stretch from Town Hall Square to the bottom of The Moor including Alpine-themed bars and stalls selling German sausages, Yorkshire Pudding wraps, toasted marshmallows and other treats. The event features a big wheel at The Moor, a carousel and helter skelter at Barker's Pool and, of course, Santa's Grotto.

• Christmas Markets in Leeds, West Yorkshire, opened on Thursday (November 22) are being held daily until December 22 at City Square and Millennium Square with other stalls in the city centre at weekends.

Halifax Piece Hall• The annual Piece Hall Christmas Market in Halifax, West Yorkshire, takes place each Friday, Saturday and Sunday until Christmas from 10am to 8pm.

• Harrogate Christmas Fayre offers a Christmas market in Cambridge Street and Market Place in the centre of the North Yorkshire town each day until Sunday December 15, offering stalls and entertainment between 10am and 7pm from Monday to Saturday and from 11am to 4.30pm on Sundays.

Other Christmas events for your diary:

Saturday December 7
Grassington Christmas Market and Arts & Craft Fair — 10am-4pm The Square / Town Hall.
Haworth Torchlight Procession — 5.30pm bottom of Main Street.
Malton Christmas Festival — 9am-3.30pm Malton Market Place.
Sunday December 8
Skipton Christmas Market Beverley Festival of Christmas — 10am-4pm Saturday Market, North Bar and Wednesday Market.
Haworth Torchlight Procession — 5.30pm bottom of Main Street.
Malton Christmas Festival — 9am-3.30pm Malton Market Place.
Skipton Christmas Market — 10am-5pm Skipton High Street.
Saturday December 14
Haworth Christmas Music Weekend — from Noon, Main Street.
Sunday December 15
Haworth Christmas Music Weekend — from Noon, Main Street.
Haworth Christmas Artisan Market— from 10.30am, Central Park.

Haworth station on The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

Santa takes the train

Santa is letting the train take the strain in the run up to Christmas with heritage railways in Yorkshire featuring Santa Special, Elf Express and Polar Express trains.

With limited space available many of these special trains are already fully booked, but some of the railways are also offering other Christmas events including A Christmas Carol theatrical experience at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, Christmas lunches on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and Mince Pie Steam Specials on the Wensleydale Railway.

Find links to the railways on our Heritage railways page.

Heritage railways

Changes in new rail timetables from December 15

New railway timetables come into effect in Yorkshire and across rail operators throughout the country from Sunday December 15.

If you are a weekend traveller, however, do not get too comfortable with the new timetable as weekend changes will occur between January and February and again from April, mostly the result of weekend closures of Huddersfield station for improvements as part of work on the Trans-Pennine Upgrade. There will also be engineering work affecting travel in the period between Christmas and New Year.

The new timetables do provide hope of restoration of a better service on the North Trans-Pennine line if that increased level of service can be operated reliably with the upgrade work still in its early stages.

Notable changes include:

Redcar Central will be the end of the line for most TransPennine Express trains on the Saltburn route in the new timetable• A return to four TransPennnine Express trains per hour between Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester, including the restoration of through trains from Scarborough.

• The TransPennnine Express service from York via Wakefield and Huddersfield to Manchester Piccadilly is improved to a regular hourly service including Sundays from the present two-hourly daytime service, excluding Sundays.

• A Leeds to Huddersfield stopping service will continue to be hourly, but with the service provided by TransPennnine Express and Northern on alternate hours.

• Very few TransPennnine Express services will operate to Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the new timetable with journeys ending at Redcar Central and requiring a change to Northern services to reach Saltburn. Services will now also call at Eaglescliffe and this route will continue to call hourly at Northallerton.

• LNER will operate a new two-hourly service between Newcastle and York calling at Durham, Darlington and Northallerton. TransPennine Express services to and from Newcastle will no longer call at Northallerton except at peak times.

Rail travel Rail map

Yorkshire.guide/railmap

Marvellous museums

Yorkshire has hundreds of marvellous museums celebrating the region's rich history, its transport, diverse industries and characters from Yorkshire whose names became known across the globe. Some of the museums are of world-class and national importance. We have a selection of some of the best in Yorkshire on our Museums page with links to their websites so that you can check for opening times. You will also find many more museums by looking up cities and towns in our Gazetteer.

Museums

Yorkshire.guide/museums

Yorkshire mixture

Here are links to a few favourite pages at Yorkshire.guide:

Cities Largest towns and cities Population Gazetteer Abbeys Castles Film locations Heritage Coast Heritage railways Highest mountains Historic Houses North Pennines North York Moors Museums Peak District Racecourses Seaside York Yorkshire Dales Yorkshire football Railway stations

On Ilkla Moor Baht ’at

If you’re from Yorkshire you will probably recognise our background picture as the Cow and Calf Rocks on Ilkley Moor, famous as the location of the Yorkshire dialect anthem "On Ilkla Moor Baht ’at". More on Ilkley.

Yorkshire news topics

ARCHIVED

Tour of Britain 2024: Cycle ride lingers in scenic Yorkshire

Halifax bus station opened: Completion of new facility for West Yorkshire town

Mass transit consultation: Chance to have a say on routes in West Yorkshire

General Election 2024: Results across 60 Yorkshire constituencies

Local elections 2024: Yorkshire-wide results from mayoral, council and Police and Crime Commissioner elections

Bus franchise plan: Major changes in West Yorkshire from 2027

RNLI 200: Anniversary celebration for coastal lifesavers.

News archive 2023: News from 2023.

News archive 2022: News from 2022.

News archive 2021: News from 2021.

News archive 2020: News from 2020.

News archive 2019: News from 2019.

News archive 2018: News from 2018.

News archive 2017: News from 2017.

Also in Yorkshire.guide

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